Kerry Washington Brings A Black Female Voice To SNL

Kerry Washington will be the host of Saturday Night Live on November 2. The Scandal star will be the first black female host since former cast member Maya Rudolph in 2012.

This is especially significant given the recent commentary surrounding black women on SNL. They introduced a new crop of cast members this season, none of which are black. In 38 years, the show has had only four black female cast members.

When asked recently, Jay Pharoah expressed disappointment and said, “They need to pay attention.” In fact, he has an actress in mind, “Her name is Darmirra Brunson…Why do I think she should be on the show? Because she’s black first of all, and she’s really talented. She’s amazing. She needs to be on SNL. I said it. And I believe they need to follow up with it like they said they were going to do last year.” Ooh! Shots fired.

On the opposite end, Kenan Thomspon told TV Guide that the black women they audition simply “aren’t ready”. “It’s just part of the business,” said Thompson. “Like in auditions, they just never find ones that are ready.” I, personally, find this ironic given the fact that I feel that way about him every time he’s in a skit. It’s like he has the same limited set of skills he did years ago as a kid on All That. But, I digress.

I’m sure Kerry will be more than ready to take on SNL. It will be exciting to see her in a more lighthearted role. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her do comedy. Should be fun to see if they decide to spoof Scandal.